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Python pprint (Pretty Printer) Module

By Abhinav Gangrade Last updated : December 21, 2024

Python pprint (Pretty Printer) Module

pprint is a python module that helps us to make the readability of the complex data structures easy. The pprint is also called as "pretty print".

Let us consider an example,

dictionary={'coord': {'lon': 77.22, 'lat': 28.67}, 
'weather': [{'id': 721, 'main': 'Haze', 'description': 
'haze', 'icon': '50d'}], 'base': 'stations', 'main': 
{'temp': 44, 'feels_like': 40.42, 'temp_min': 44, 
'temp_max': 44, 'pressure': 1002, 'humidity': 11}, 
'visibility': 6000, 'wind': {'speed': 4.1, 'deg': 290, 
'gust': 9.3}, 'clouds': {'all': 30}, 'dt': 1590398990, 
'sys': {'type': 1, 'id': 9165, 'country': 'IN', 
'sunrise': 1590364538, 'sunset': 1590414050}, 
'timezone': 19800, 'id': 1273294, 'name': 'Delhi', 
'cod': 200}

# This is the dictionary that we wanted to print
print(dictionary)

Now request module is of the article its just an example to create a nested data structure.

Output:

{'coord': {'lon': 77.22, 'lat': 28.67}, 
'weather': [{'id': 721, 'main': 'Haze', 'description': 'haze', 'icon': '50d'}], 
'base': 'stations', 'main': {'temp': 44, 'feels_like': 40.42, 'temp_min': 44, 
'temp_max': 44, 'pressure': 1002, 'humidity': 11}, 'visibility': 6000, 
'wind': {'speed': 4.1, 'deg': 290, 'gust': 9.3}, 'clouds': {'all': 30}, 
'dt': 1590398990, 'sys': {'type': 1, 'id': 9165, 'country': 'IN', 'sunrise': 1590364538, 'sunset': 1590414050}, 
'timezone': 19800, 'id': 1273294, 'name': 'Delhi', 'cod': 200}

As you can see, the output is not in a proper and readable way, we cannot read this complex nested dictionary structure.

To solve this issue of readability we will use the inbuilt module pprint.

How to download and use pprint module in Python?

There are two ways to download and use a pprint module. They are:

General way

In your terminal or command prompt, type the following command,

pip install pprint

Using pycharm

Go to the project interpreter and install the module.

Now after installing, import the module and there is a function in this module named pprint so import that as

from pprint import pprint

To make the structure look good just pprint() instead of print().

Python pprint Module Example

# import pprint from the module pprint
from pprint import pprint


dictionary={'coord': {'lon': 77.22, 'lat': 28.67}, 
'weather': [{'id': 721, 'main': 'Haze', 'description': 
'haze', 'icon': '50d'}], 'base': 'stations', 'main': 
{'temp': 44, 'feels_like': 40.42, 'temp_min': 44, 
'temp_max': 44, 'pressure': 1002, 'humidity': 11}, 
'visibility': 6000, 'wind': {'speed': 4.1, 'deg': 290, 
'gust': 9.3}, 'clouds': {'all': 30}, 'dt': 1590398990, 
'sys': {'type': 1, 'id': 9165, 'country': 'IN', 
'sunrise': 1590364538, 'sunset': 1590414050}, 
'timezone': 19800, 'id': 1273294, 'name': 'Delhi', 
'cod': 200}

# This is the dictionary that we wanted to print
pprint(dictionary)

Output:

{'base': 'stations',
 'clouds': {'all': 30},
 'cod': 200,
 'coord': {'lat': 28.67, 'lon': 77.22},
 'dt': 1590398990,
 'id': 1273294,
 'main': {'feels_like': 40.42,
          'humidity': 11,
          'pressure': 1002,
          'temp': 44,
          'temp_max': 44,
          'temp_min': 44},
 'name': 'Delhi',
 'sys': {'country': 'IN',
         'id': 9165,
         'sunrise': 1590364538,
         'sunset': 1590414050,
         'type': 1},
 'timezone': 19800,
 'visibility': 6000,
 'weather': [{'description': 'haze', 'icon': '50d', 'id': 721, 'main': 'Haze'}],
 'wind': {'deg': 290, 'gust': 9.3, 'speed': 4.1}}
 

The above output is clear and it is easily readable.